The Grange Playhouse, Walsall - The Importance of Being Earnest - 15.07.15 - 25.07.15

The Grange Playhouse, Walsall

Presents:

The Importance of Being Earnest

By Oscar Wilde
.

15th - 25th July 2015

'A trivial comedy for serious people' - First performed on 14th February 1895 at the St James's Theatre, London, The Importance of Being Earnest has to be Oscar Wilde's most famous play. Over the years it has had dozens of famous performers portraying his delightful characters and it has been made into a film on 3 occasions.

The play is set in late Victorian London and touches on the social obligations of the time and how they were perceived by the young and old generations. Through comedy, Wilde can poke fun at the way society is run and how the younger generation gets round their social obligations.

Martin Groves has put on a splendid production. His direction was elegant and flowed well across the stage. He also created the set design which was constructed in such a way as it allowed the backstage crew to change from Algernon's Flat, to the Manor House Garden, to the Manor House Drawing Rooms with ease but still gave a good visual effect.

Lee Davies, who played Algernon Moncrieff and Rod Bissett who played John Worthing worked well together and their banter and bickers just rolled off the tongue as if they had been together for years. The chase around Algernon's flat over a cigarette case and the muffin argument around the Manor House Garden was nicely choreographed, full of pace, direction, but still audible, with good diction.

Sam Allan gave a lovely portrayal as Lane, Algernon's Servant who entertained the audience with her occasional despairing looks at heaven and sneaking a drink from Algernon's drinks table while no one was around.

As with many productions, Lady Bracknell was played by a male actor. David Stone delivered this part with the correct contempt, snobbery and mannerisms for the period and at times you even forgot that it was a male actor underneath the outfit!

Phebe Jackson gave a powerful performance as Lady Bracknells daughter, Gwendolen. She had great poise and elegance, mixed in with a youthful glow. 

At the Manor House we met Cecily Cardew, the beautiful young ward of John Worthing. She was played by Natalie Ashcroft who delivered a sensitive, full of life character eager to see meet the man of her dreams.

Also at the Manor house, we have Miss Prism, Cecily's Governess (Gwen Evans) who has been hiding a dreadful secret for 28 years and has a soft spot for Rev Canon Chasuble (Brian Lycett). The two have some lovely moments and allowed the audience to believe there would be a romance sooner or later.

Making up the rest of the cast is Christopher Waters as John Worthing's Butler, Merriman and Luke Groves as his Footman.

The cast all gelled well together and allowed the play to go along with gusto and pace. The performance was in 3 acts with 2 intermissions, one being the usual 20 minutes and one 5 minutes which allowed the final scene change to be done with ease behind the curtains and passed with a blink of the eye.

This play tells a simple story of misunderstandings, social standings, secrets, double lives and love, but all rolled into one it makes for a great evenings entertainment with lively acting, wonderful costumes and all in all a great deal of 'drama'!

The Importance of Being Earnest runs at The Grange Playhouse until the 25th July 2015

To book tickets, please call: 07909 036 835 / 01922 625 100

The Grange Playhouse

Broadway North

Walsall

West Midlands

WS1 2QB

Review by Jayne Rickard

The New Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham - The Importance of Being Earnest - 20th-25th October 2014

The New Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham

20th - 25th October 2014

Firstly, it was lovely to see The Alexandra so full! This is probably due to Oscar Wilde's work being so poignant in the development of theatre, The Importance of Being Earnest, 'A Trivial Comedy for Serious People' is said to be the most perfect comedy ever written. Many of us will know the story of The Importance, but I think the audience were quite surprised with the fresh take director, Lucy Bailey, took upon the piece. As an audience our usual signal to quiet down and prepare for the action is the lights going down, however this evening we were met with the entrance of Patrick Godfrey and soon after Nigel Havers in bright red trainers, complaining that the piano recording is supposed to stop before his arrival. Bailey, with the help of Simon Brett, had created a framework around The Importance, essentially a play within a play. Soon the stage was filled with actors, a director, a technician, stage managers, wardrobe, prompters, it was familiar chaos, this was a rehearsal. What the audience was witnessing was The Bunbury Company of Players (BP), an amateur dramatics group, in their final dress rehearsal of their much loved Wilde production, within the house of one of the company's founding members.

This framework was not only portrayed on stage, interestingly it was taken further, in the programme I received on this night it contained a mini programme, that I assume would have been presented on the night of this imaginary performance. Within, it included a full cast list and biography on each character, a piece from director and even a trip to Oscar Wilde bar in London's Cadogan Hotel, by doing this it was almost an extension of the production. I understand that this is a little difficult to get your head around, perhaps the team could have done more to bring this section into the 21st century on stage than just a pair of Nike trainers and the ring of a mobile phone but we must applaud the dedication of the production team to going to such lengths on paper. In addition to this, it allowed for a more mature cast to perform the roles of twenty-something characters, to some disapproval, although Wilde's work being quite fast paced and wordy, it was nice to see the language approached effortlessly that only comes with the more experienced actor. 

Nigel Havers playing both Richard Oldfield of the Bunbury players and Algeron Moncrieff, wooed the ladies as he has done for many years with his charm and flamboyance, along side his co-star Martin Jarvis, the director of BP and the main role of John Worthing. A fun and gripping scene between the jealous, feisty girls Cecily (Christine Kavanagh) and Gwendolen (Cherie Lunghi) had the laughs rolling. Siân Phillips, the rehearsal space owner, Lavinia Spelman practiced the iconic "A handbag!?" line as Lady Bracknell with her usual elegance.As the rehearsal went on gradually the Bunbury players merged with their The Importance characters superbly and we found ourselves submerged within Wilde's world.

The production runs until Saturday 25th October at The Alex.

Review by Ellie Scandrett